Skysong's Heart
by AllieKaaos
Summary: Skysong was raised by the humans, but she is a dragon. A human's heart doesn't bode well with a dragons body. All her friends are dying, but she is still young. How will Skysong cope? Will she stay with humans, will she live with the dragons? R&R please


Standing at the back of the crowd, the adolescent dragon watched as a funeral processed. She had no difficulty in seeing, as her head came over the top of even the tallest humans'. Her scales were a dark grey colour, and tears dropped from her slender face. This funeral was held for Veralidaine Sarrasri.

As the lid of the coffin slowly closed over her adoptive ma's face, Skysong felt sick. Her heart lurched as she watched some of Daine's former guards lower the coffin into the six-foot deep ditch. _Gone._ Skysong felt an ache in her gut. _Gone, gone forever. _Even if she would see Daine in the Peaceful Realms some day, that day was so far off. Skysong was still quite young,for a dragon- she had hundreds, if not thousands of years to live yet.

Skysong thought back to when she was just a hatchling- she had been so blissfully ignorant back then. She never thought about people dying… Daine had lived to be 67 years old, which was a long time for a human. Numair had died five years before.

Skysong sighed. The guards had begun filling in the hole in the ground that contained Daine's body. Sometimes Skysong wished her mother had raised her among dragons. Then she would not feel this pain. Besides, even if death did not occur so often among the dragons, they did not feel emotion the same way humans did.

Again, Skysong sighed. Humans were so short lived. In her lifetime, she had seen four generations of humans. Daine's daughter, Sarra, had married Alan's first child, Owen. They had had two children, Jacob, and Jessica. Jacob had joined the King's Own and had not yet married, but Jessica had marriedand had given birth to a child with another on the way. Rikash, Daine's son, had married a girl he'd met in the City of the Gods called Llalania. They had one child, Gerard, but could not have any more due to an incident that had happened during Gerard's birth. Rikash had become a mage equal to his father, and Gerard was very close to it. Gerard had married Aly's granddaughter Kiesha. Gerard and Kiesha hadn't had any children yet, but they intended to.

All of this had transpired, and Skysong was still considered an adolescent dragon. If she were human, she would be old and decrepit. It wasn't fair. She was a dragon, but could not be comfortable among dragons- she had a human heart, but she would never be able to live without pain, because the humans died so quickly. Skysong felt out of place. A human's heart in a dragon's body just didn't work.

Finally the funeral ended, and everyone went home. Skysong decided she would go reflect in the cave where she'd been born. She sometimes went there when she wanted to be alone, and since the burial was held near Pirate's Swoop, it was not far.

Skysong took a slight detour over the ocean and watched the water tumble and rock beneath her. The crashing of the waves against the stones soothed her ears. She flew around for a little while, admiring the view. Then, she made a graceful turn in the air and landed gently on the cave floor.

The air was moist and salty, but Skysong could still smell a storm coming in. It would be raining before the end of the day, which suited her mood perfectly.

Skysong settled down on the hard stone floor, and sighed. How would she live? She had three choices: she could learn how to cope with living with dragons, she could continue to live with pain among the humans, or she could die. None of her options seemed very appealing.

Skysong's thoughts started to wander. She thought about the palace children she used to play with. She remembered one in particular- Lian, or, Lianokami of Conté, was one of her best friends. . Lian was much like her grandfather in nature- mischievous, charming, and generally a nice person Lian was ten when they met, so they were, mentally, similar in age. Though Lian was a girl, she had been made heir to the throne. Skysong wondered how Lian was doing. Often Skysong confided in Lian, and vice versa. Lian had recently been granted the throne, and, when Skysong last saw her, seemed to be very frustrated with it all.

Her thoughts began to wander elsewhere. This and that, nothing of importance. Then thought in particular struck her- What if Daine had been offered a place in the Realms of the Gods?

An instant later, Skysong dismissed the thought. Even if Daine had been offered that chance, she would have declined in favor of being with her husband. When this thought came to light, Skysong just felt worse. She felt bad for Sarra, Daine's mother, because she wouldn't get to see her daughter.

Then Skysong's thoughts turned to some of her exploits with Lian again. She had to get her mind off of such dismal things, When Lian was younger, she recalled, they used to play tricks on the palace stewards. "Justice" they used to call it, because the stewards were so "mean." She let out a shaky laugh at the thought. Instantly she felt bad for laughing during such a sad time. Back then, things seemed so much… happier.

Skysong looked out upon the ocean, admiring the scene. The sun was just at the right angle to make the water shine. Noting this, Skysong took the time to admire her collection of things she thought were pretty. This was essentially made up of broken bits of glass and jewelry all jumbled together. The sun went through the glass, making a design on the wall. Coloured bits of light painted the wall, and, though it seemed random and messy, it was quite beautiful.

Skysong lowered her head, the image of beauty fresh in her mind and went to sleep. She dreamed of good times when Daine and Numair were still alive. She smiled in her sleep, despite the recent sad events. Nobody can be miserable all the time…

When Skysong awoke, she thought about her options. The dream she had the night before was happy. It was about the time she first saw Sarra, Daine's newborn. She was so beautiful, and was shape shifting left right and center. Once, she shifted into a lion and startled Skysong with a small roar. Every one shook with laughter.

Looking back on that, Skysong realized that she would lose all her sanity if she kept seeing people die. She would lose those happy thoughts; living with the pain humans gave her. All those memories would be drowned in her unhappiness- unless she stopped it. The only way she would be happy is if she died before she lost her mind. Her decision made, she decided she'd have to speak to Rikash. He would try to stop her, but she wasn't interested. She had a message for him to pass on…

Suddenly, she found herself standing before the dragons. She realized they must have transported her, and before she could even think of it, she felt sick. Going from the human realm to the dragon realm didn't usually make dragons sick, but it did if it was forced upon you.

"We wish to consult you about your decisions, Skysong," one of the larger dragons said. She realized that it was her grandfather, Diamondflame, who had spoken. Perhaps she wouldn't be able to go through with suicide, after all…


End file.
